If you know where to look and have enough perseverance and finger strength to prise off the lids, there are several plastic crates here at Glory HQ packed to the brim with club publications from seasons past.
Delving into these crates is a bit like opening the cupboard that leads to Narnia, or climbing into Michael J. Fox’s iconic DeLorean sportscar in ‘Back to the Future’.
The present is put firmly on hold as you find yourself chuckling at Bernd Stange’s bizzare decision to attend the 1999 MGP Awards dressed as a magician, nodding sagely as a fresh-faced Ivan Ergic is tipped for future stardom and marvelling at how Scott Neville seemingly hasn’t aged a day since 2008.
And then, when you realise 40 minutes have passed and that you really should be doing something a bit more productive with your day, you come across a true gem.
Something that makes you chuckle and scratch your head all at once.
Like the above shot from page 60 of the 2007-2008 Hyundai A-League season guide.
Ok, Hayden Foxe, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jamie Coyne, Dino Djulbic and David Tarka were all defenders and defenders are supposed to be gnarly and rugged; we get that.
And following on from there, we get the rusty corrugated iron fence, the unkempt grass verge, the whole disused-industrial-estate-in-Welshpool-vibe.
It’s certainly not the most obscure promo theme we’ve ever seen.
But what’s with the mud on the faces?
If memory serves, the nib Stadium surface of ten years ago certainly didn’t resemble the kind of quagmire that would leave players in such a state of dishevelment.
Defenders obviously do have to get down and dirty, even when wearing what was surely one of our most elegant away kits of all time; that’s a given.
But with the notable exception of the 2003 NSL Grand Final, it’s very hard to recall a time when any Glory player left the field looking as though he’d spent the previous 90 minutes embedded deep behind enemy lines with a unit of the SAS.
Or have we taken this completely the wrong way and missed the whole point?
Was the message, in fact, that as well as being rugged defenders, Hayden, Nikolai, Jamie, Dino and David were also progressive, metrosexual guys who weren’t afraid to pop on a facemask as and when their pores required it?
We’ll leave you to decide. ..
#CREATEDESTINY
Â
Â
